As Managing Director and Co-Founder, John has been with Tongue-Tied since its inception 32 years ago. Prior to the beginning of Tongue-Tied, John spent more than 20 years in the IT industry to great success, most notably holding the position of Senior Manager with Motorola. These skills, along with his passion and determination, have helped grow Tongue-Tied into the international success that it is today. A little-known fact about John is that he played football for a well known London club in the seventies, and when playing against an African national side, he met his future wife Cindy (an air hostess at the time).   

As fellow Co-Founder of Tongue-Tied, Cindy has also been with the company since the very beginning 32 years ago. Though she originally trained to become a teacher, Cindy’s desire to travel spurred her on to join a national airline company as cabin staff, where she would eventually ascend to the position of Company Service Director. It was while jet-setting across the world that Cindy had the initial thought for starting Tongue-Tied; an idea that grew from her love of languages and travel. Now Chairman of the company, Cindy still impresses all with her linguistic skills and in addition to English is also fluent in French, Spanish, and Portuguese.  

Holding the position of HR Manager and Senior Project Manager, Amie has been an integral part of the Tongue-Tied team since she was only 18. During the course of her 8 years with the company, she has also completed a Master’s Degree in Anthropology (cultural studies) from Sussex University, for which she was awarded Distinction. A little-known fact is that Amie, as a woman of many talents, is also a gifted singer and well-trained in Musical Theatre.  

Andrew Winterbottom has been with us for 14 years and holds the titles of IT Manager and Senior Project Manager. Since he joined Tongue-Tied in the mid-2000s, Andrew has made numerous improvements to our IT systems, including designing Tongue-Tied’s internal applications to be completely customised to our needs. In addition to his background in computer programming and software design, Andrew is also a gifted musician. A skilled guitar, drums, and piano player, he has famously quoted his ability to ‘star in his own one-man band’. 

Neil Whines is our Accountant at Tongue-Tied, and has been with us for 16 years. As a Chartered Accountant, he has worked in a wide variety of large public to small private companies and charities over the years. In recent years, this has been on a part-time basis with a number of smaller companies, including Tongue-Tied. When not accounting, Neil helps his wife to manage her small flock of sheep and holds the position of ‘Assistant Shepherd’. Their guardianship over the sheep, especially during lambing time, keeps Neil well and truly on his toes.